THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930

1
THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930S

• Brother can you spare a dime?

2
The Roaring Twenties

• A time of wealth and excess.
• Thousands of Americans migrated to the cities
  with the hopes of finding a more prosperous life
• Rise of consumerism
• Automobiles, clothing, radio, movies

3
Signs of Trouble

• More people than ever before were investing in
  the stock market, hoping to make a large profit
• By the late 20s, production had already declined
  and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in
  great excess of their real value

4
STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929

• Black Thursday, October 24,
  1929
• The market lost 11 of its value at the opening
  bell on very heavy trading
• Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929
• about sixteen million shares were traded, and the
  Dow lost an additional 12

5
Fallout

• People who have invested in the stock market lose
  everything
• 14 million Americans are jobless (almost 1/3 the
  workforce)
• Banks foreclose on houses and farms
• No food, no clothes, no jobs

6
DUST BOWL (DUST STORMS) OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS
1934-1935
7
Causes

• Severe drought
• Extensive plowing of topsoil in the 20s
• Conversion of arid grasslands to cultivated farm
  land
• Deep rooted grasses removed

8
Black SundayApril 14, 1935

• 24 hours of a blinding dust storm
• Dreaded black-blizzard covers entire disaster
  area
• Drought adds further devastation

9
THE VICTIMS OF THE DUST BOWL

• Colorado
• Kansas
• Oklahoma
• New Mexico
• Texas

• Devastation of their cropland
• Respiratory health issues
• Unsanitary living
• Rampant crime
• Debt-ridden families

10
Okies

• Land ruined, no jobs or opportunities
• Mass exodus to California
• Migrant workers become source of cheap labor
• Conditions are no better elsewhere

11
The Grapes of Wrath

• Published in 1939
• John Steinbeck was interested in the struggles of
  the Okies and those displaced by the Great
  Depression
• Example of American Realism

12
Banned

• By the San Jose Public Library (June 1939) as
  unfit for patrons
• By the Kern County Board of Supervisors from
  schools and libraries (August 1939) for being
  filled with profanity, lewd, foul and obscene
  language unfit for use in American homes . . . It
  has offended our citizenry by falsely implying
  that many of our fine people are a low, ignorant,
  profane and blasphemous type living in a vicious
  and filthy manner.
• By the Kansas City Board of Education (August
  1939) from schools.

13
Burned

• On the curb by the Salinas Public Library On the
  sidewalk in Bakersfield, California
• Several other cities followed

14
Condemned

• By the Associated Farmers (formed in 1934)
  Although the Associated Farmers will not attempt
  to have the book banned or suppressed, we would
  not want our women and children to read so vulgar
  a book. This is a matter for consideration by
  public bodies. We deny the statements in the
  book, so consequently if we were to seek for a
  ban, our motive would be attacked. . . The only
  inference that can be obtained from Steinbecks
  book is that he is proposing exactly the same
  sort of overthrow of the present form of
  government and the substitution of collective
  agriculture as did Carey McWilliams in his
  Factories in the Fields. (August 1939)
• By the Oklahoma City Times Any reader who has
  his roots planted in the red soil will boil with
  indignation over the bedraggled, bestial
  characters that will give Reading The Grapes of
  Wrath Susan Shillinglaw, San José State
  University See other side Tom Joad the ignorant
  east convincing confirmation of their ideas of
  the people of the southwest . . . if you have
  children, Id advise against leaving the book
  around home. It has Tobacco Road looking as pure
  as Charlotte Bronte, when it comes to obscene,
  vulgar, lewd, stable language.

15
Homework Leaving Town

• You suddenly have to leave your house or
  apartment. You must leave your belongings behind,
  and, aside from a few clothes, you can take only
  four of your possessions. What would you take?
  Keep in mind that you will be on the road and
  wont be allowed to take anything that wont fit
  in the trunk of your car. In a letter to a
  friend, identify these possessions. Then explain
  what those items mean to you and why you chose as
  you did. Are you taking them for sentimental
  reasons? Because they are practical? Because they
  are fun? Include your feelings about the items
  you had to leave behind and any sadness, anger,
  or frustration that you felt.